Danny Murphy has suggested that Chelsea are the only Premier League team capable of keeping up with Liverpool and Manchester City.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Murphy backed the Blues to challenge the country’s conquerors in the next few seasons, but only if the new owner offers similar financial support to that of Roman Abramovich.
All change at the top for Chelsea
Whilst City and Liverpool have been the epitome of consistency in the past few campaigns, Chelsea’s continuously changing landscape made arguably its largest modification of the last 20 years on Wednesday.
Abramovich announced he would be selling the club he bought in 2003, as his relationship with Vladimir Putin was thrust into the public eye due to the dreadful scenes developing in Ukraine.
With Stamford Bridge and all its treasures now on the market, many wonder what the future holds for the Champions League holders.
One thing that was certain under Abramovich’s reign was guaranteed success.
He provided the platform for the side to win five league titles, eight domestic cups and five European honours, all whilst spending big on the best players.
Not to mention repeatedly rotating the man in the dugout, without largely damaging the chances of claiming silverware.
Yet, the prospect of being led by someone other than Abramovich has cast doubt over Chelsea’s ability to churn out trophies.
Could Man City and Liverpool’s domination become even more powerful with the Blues on the brink of losing their Russian ruler?
City and Liverpool looking down on the rest
Whilst Murphy insisted the Londoners still had their rival’s number, he admitted that the three-horse race could easily drop to two before too long.
“Three out of the last four years, including this one, those two (City and Liverpool) have been relentless for their levels of performance, the points tally, the goals scored. I think they’ve pushed each other.
“I would suggest that in the next two years there’s nobody, other than Chelsea, that can break these two. And I only say that because of Chelsea’s clout financially but that could change.
“So, at the moment, these two are way ahead because if the new ownership model isn’t prepared to just spend willy nilly, irrelevant of fair play, they’re (Chelsea) not going to be able to compete because Liverpool and City’s firepower is greater than anyone else’s.”
Whoever takeovers over Chelsea will bring their own cupboard of wealth with them, but how they spend that is a different matter.
Supporters have probably already been thinking about the signings they’d like to see made over the summer.
They might need to rein in these dreams for now until Abramovich’s replacement and their ambitions are revealed.
For the time being, Blues fans must accept the situation and get behind the current squad as much as possible.
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